Waiter! There's a Fly in my Artery!

Back in 2001, I was working on the BattlestarGalactica proposal for FX artist Vincent Guastini. At the time, he was also doing creatures and make-up for the horror film INFESTED. It told the tale of mutant flies who lay eggs in people's veins. One shot needed to see the eggs and a vein interior. Because it would be fairly large and closer to a set than a make up effect, Vinnie asked me to help. These pictures are courtesy of writer/ director Josh Olsen. Thank you Josh!

It needed to come together fairly fast. Being anatomically accurate gave way to artistic license so it would look extra eerie, weird and creepy. I made a forced perspective frame of concentric circles about 6' to 7' long, curving to one side.

Over the frame, I stretched and glued sheets of rubber latex, letting wrinkles and creases happen where it looked organic and natural.

Next came airbrushed shading and blue veins. The "set" was decorated with tightly stretched scraps of latex. Vinnie took over, goring and gooing the whole thing up with his magic.

I remember him joking that his place was looking more like ILM than a creature shop.